Announcing Microsoft Azure Government services in the Cloud Solution Provider program

We are excited to announce that Azure Government services are now available through the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSP). The CSP program enables partners to make Microsoft Cloud services part of their customer offerings, expanding U.S. government customer options in meeting their mission goals. With the CSP program, partners can now create high-value service offerings that combine use of Azure Government with solution management, customer support, and billing to U.S. government customers. The security, privacy, compliance and transparency of the Azure Government platform give U.S. government partners the right foundation for meeting regulatory requirements while delivering innovation to the U.S. public sector.

The CSP program is a great fit for the U.S. public sector where partners already build, deploy and manage solutions on behalf of federal, state and local government entities. Over the last 60 days, we piloted Azure Government in CSP with a variety of partners and their customers running production workloads. The feedback reinforces the expected demand from U.S. Government customers for secure, compliant cloud-based solutions through a broad ecosystem of partners. Reduced cost, cloud speed, and increased efficiency are all potential benefits of the managed services that U.S. government partners can enable through CSP.

"Smartronix and Microsoft share a common commitment to deliver innovative and valuable services to our government customers. AzureGov on CSP makes it easier for us to deliver these solutions." - Robert Groat, Executive Vice President Smartronix

"As compliance with regulation and public demand rapidly increase reliance on technology in the public sector, a consistent, reliable and accessible cloud platform is the backbone supporting that change, with Microsoft Azure, through the SYNNEX CLOUDSolv marketplace, we enable our partners to drive deployment and provide comprehensive solutions that help them compete and grow their business in the government vertical." - Darren Harbaugh, Vice President, Cloud & Emerging Services, SYNNEX Corporation.

"Our partnership with Microsoft enabled us to seize a tremendous opportunity as we were closing the year. Not only did the fast turnaround have us transacting on the Azure Cloud in less than a week, but now we can provide our services on Microsoft's infrastructure which opens a wave of new possibilities for new government customers." - Eric Van Heel, VP of Cloud Solutions Support Avtex Solutions

"In partnering with Microsoft through CSP and leveraging technologies such as the Azure Pricing Calculator, which is bleeding edge to provide a comprehensive and easy to use web-based user interface to select and dynamically price out all of Azure Cloud Services, Microsoft enabled us to turn around quotes and spin up resources based on our clients' requirements within minutes not days." -Sonoka Ho, VP of Business Operations @ TechTrend.us.

The array of services available in Azure Government is rapidly increasing, and nearly all are available today through CSP. From infrastructure services like virtual machines, storage, and networking to platform services like data, analytics, web and mobile services. Transacting Azure in the Government Cloud through CSP can be done in three steps:

Learn about CSP: the requirements for participation and the option to own the customer relationship end-to-end.

As an indirect reseller in the CSP program, you'll work with an indirect provider (also known as a distributor). Indirect providers can provide your customers with product support, provide you with technical assistance and marketing, and help you establish financing and credit terms.

If you don't have the infrastructure to provide customer support and billing, you can connect with an indirect provider. This gives you more time to spend with your customers building specialized service offers. Review the authorized indirect providers in your area, to get help with value added services, support and billing. Here's where you can learn more about the indirect reseller model and find a provider.

As a direct partner, you provide your customers with cloud services, cloud products, customer support, and you bill your customers directly. If you don't have the infrastructure for doing this type of business, join as an indirect reseller. Minimum requirements for direct partners include: A service business model, a customer support infrastructure, customer billing and invoicing capabilities, and the ability to scale. There is a deeper commitment required to be a direct partner, and details on support requirement, billing and invoicing, managing customers, incentives and licensing can be found here.